Tag: far right
Pete Hegseth

Flag Officers Unmoved By Hegseth's Loud 'Cringey' Speech

On Tuesday morning, September 30, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth gave a speech before U.S. military generals. The far-right MAGA Republican and former Fox News host emphasized culture-war themes during the speech, claiming that a push for diversity and "woke" policies have been hurting the military.

"For too long," Hegseth told attendees, "we've promoted too many uniformed leaders for the wrong reasons. Based on their race, based on gender quotas. Based on historic so-called firsts. We've pretended that combat arms and non-combat arms are the same thing…. We became the woke department."

Hegseth also remarked that it is "unacceptable" for the military to have "fat generals."

Hegseth's speech is drawing plenty of responses on X, formerly Twitter.

The progressive group Call to Activism tweeted, "Breaking: Pete Hegseth’s speech to the Generals literally sounds like a speech from 40s Germany: 'For too long we've promoted uniformed leaders for the wrong reasons - based on their race, gender quotas…But not anymore.' Absolutely disgraceful."

Media Matters' Matt Gertz commented, "I think my takeaway from this speech is that Pete Hegseth is going to challenge JD Vance for the GOP nomination in 2028, and my takeaway from recent anonymous leaks about Hegseth is that Vance knows it."

X user Aurelio Muaca posted, "Alcoholic ex-Fox News host Pete Hegseth — booted [for] drunkenness, sexism, and total incompetence — has the nerve to lecture top generals about military matters. The same guy who can barely keep a job thinks he knows better? Good luck with that trainwreck!!"

Finnish X user Joni Askola posted, "During his speech, Hegseth is announcing plans that will shrink the US military. He's pushing sudden physical standards, even for generals, applying male standards to women, and making the force more toxic by 'not walking on egg shells anymore.' Russia and China must be happy."

Comics writer Charles Scaggs wrote, "Short version of Pete Hegseth's Patton-wannabe speech to military officers this morning: 'Anyone who isn't a straight, white male' shouldn't be promoted in the military.'"

Democratic strategist DJ Koessler remarked, "I can't explain it but Hegseth's speech is giving washed-up, annoying senior lecturing the chapter about standards during fraternity rush."

X user The Tennessee Holler noted a lack of applause during the speech.

Holler tweeted, "To our enemies: FAFO [f—— around and find out]” (holds for applause that doesn’t come) Cringey awkward moment as Hegseth summons all generals to hear him do a one-man show about how strong we are

Reprinted with permission from Alternet.

'Civil War' Erupts As MAGA Factions Feud Over Kirk Legacy

'Civil War' Erupts As MAGA Factions Feud Over Kirk Legacy

In an article for The Bulwark published Thursday, political analyst Will Sommer highlighted a growing power struggle within the MAGA movement following the murder of conservative firebrand Charlie Kirk.

Sommer's piece detailed an increasingly bitter feud among right-wing influencers, donors and media figures, each vying to shape Kirk’s legacy and the future of the massive political media empire he left behind.

At the center of the turmoil, the piece noted, is Kirk’s onetime protégée, Candace Owens, who has claimed that Kirk was rethinking his staunch support for Israel in the weeks leading up to his death.

Owens suggested that tensions with pro-Israel donors reached a boiling point at a billionaire-funded retreat in the Hamptons, describing it as an “ambush” aimed at stopping Kirk from featuring former Fox News primetime host Tucker Carlson at an upcoming Turning Point USA (TPUSA) event.

While billionaire Bill Ackman confirmed hosting the retreat, he and other attendees denied any confrontation with Kirk.

Still, Owens has pressed ahead with her version of events, asserting that Kirk had begun to question American backing of Israel and hinting at donor pressure to silence him.

“No one, and I mean absolutely no one outside of my husband and Erika Kirk, has the power to shut me up right now,” she said on her show, the piece noted.

Owens’ allegations have drawn support from a surprising set of voices. Carlson echoed her narrative, claiming on his program that pro-Israel donors “tormented Charlie Kirk until the day he died,” and that Kirk had even lost a $2 million donation over Carlson’s scheduled appearance at a TPUSA conference.

Carlson added that Kirk was “appalled” by the war in Gaza and had grown more concerned about wealth inequality — hinting at a broader ideological shift. “There’s no question his views were changing fast,” Carlson said.

Sommer reported that these claims are fueling an open war among Kirk’s former allies, marked by leaks, threats of damning recordings and social media broadsides.

Owens and Carlson have both suggested a backstage conversation from a July conference — recorded while both were wearing microphones — might reveal Kirk privately urging Carlson to tie convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein to the Israeli government in his remarks.

Carlson said, “I think that that conversation — he had a mic on and so did I — probably exists somewhere on somebody’s server.”


So far, no such evidence has surfaced. What remains is speculation, clashing narratives, and a palpable hunger among MAGA influencers to define the meaning of Kirk’s death — and control the future of TPUSA.

That fight is attracting attention from figures as prominent as Vice President JD Vance and members of Congress, signaling the high political and financial stakes, Sommer noted.

Far-right podcaster Benny Johnson urged MAGA to use Kirk's death to unite against liberal critics.

“This is a generational opportunity,”Johnson said. “We must crush them.”

But others are consumed with intramural battles, jockeying for power in a post-Kirk, post-Trump right-wing landscape.

As Sommer notes, the paranoia is feeding on itself, with some conspiracy theorists suggesting Israel was behind the assassination — a claim Netanyahu himself has publicly denied.

“I will be an enemy of you,” Owens said to MAGA influencers in a now-viral clip emblematic of the internal chaos. "There is nothing that can stop me."

Reprinted with permission from Alternet.

Justice Department Erases Damning Report On Far-Right Violence

Justice Department Erases Damning Report On Far-Right Violence

404 Media reports the Department of Justice has taken down a study showing white supremacist and far-right violence outpaces “all other types of terrorism and domestic violent extremism” in the United States.

The DOJ website hosted the study, conducted by the National Institute of Justice, until September 12, 2025.

In its place is the message: “The Department of Justice's Office of Justice Programs is currently reviewing its websites and materials in accordance with recent Executive Orders and related guidance. During this review, some pages and publications will be unavailable. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.”

The report What NIJ Research Tells Us About Domestic Terrorism revealed that “Militant, nationalistic, white supremacist violent extremism has increased in the United States. In fact, the number of far-right attacks continues to outpace all other types of terrorism and domestic violent extremism.”

The document reports “far-right extremists have committed far more ideologically motivated homicides than far-left or radical Islamist extremists,” since 1990, “including 227 events that took more than 520 lives.”

In this same period, the report claimed, “far-left extremists committed 42 ideologically motivated attacks that took 78 lives.”

“We don’t know why the study about far-right extremist violence was removed recently,” writes 404 Media reporter Emanuel Maiberg, “but it comes immediately after the assassination of conservative personality Charlie Kirk, accusations from the administration that the left is responsible for most of the political violence in the country, and a renewed commitment from the administration to crack down on the ‘radical left.’”

Reprinted with permission from Alternet

Alex Jones

Alex Jones Says He Is 'Gobsmacked' By Trump's Epstein Coverup

Alex Jones, a far-right conspiracy theorist and superfan of President Donald Trump, is in a state of crisis and confusion over his idol’s ongoing cover-up of information on accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.

Trump promised that he would expose the inner workings of Epstein’s alleged operation in a second term. Instead, the Trump administration has refused to release much of the government’s information on Epstein, including a rumored client list, and Trump has berated his followers for having an interest in the story. The about-face has been annoying Trump’s backers in the MAGA movement for months.

On Wednesday, Trump told reporters that concerns about the Epstein story were “total bullshit,” and lied that the controversy was the creation of the Democratic Party.

That news led Jones to lament in a social media post, writing, “Trump‘s disastrous handling of the Epstein firestorm last month was starting to die down and now he has let the corporate media bait him into re-launching a new Streisand effect.”

Jones’ state of crisis worsened in a video posted on Thursday, showing him visibly confused as he ranted at length and tried to rationalize Trump’s obfuscation.

“This is just crazy,” Jones said. He insisted that despite his mishandling of the issue, “Trump is not stupid,” but he also expressed concern that Trump is “caught off guard with a new issue.”

“I don’t know what to say at this point. I am actually in a conundrum. I’m god-smacked,” he added.

Despite Jones’ conspiracies about 9/11 and the Sandy Hook school shooting, he attained mainstream conservative acceptance around the time of Trump’s first presidential campaign, when Trump sat for an interview with him. Ever since then, Jones has been a Trump cheerleader.

However, the Epstein issue seems to be causing Jones to rethink his devotion.

In July, Jones accused Trump of acting cultish about the topic, after Trump complained about being asked about his former friend Epstein. Jones also claimed that month that MAGA influencers were being frozen out from White House access for expressing dissent over Epstein.

Trump’s actions around Epstein are putting his most vocal backers out on a limb. They have carried a lot of water for Trump over the years, excusing his bigotry and racism while amplifying his conspiratorial allegations—only to see him in full retreat over one of the movement’s central narratives.

A possible reason for Trump’s stonewalling is that the government’s documents on Epstein’s crimes might implicate Trump, if not in a crime, then at least in misconduct. However, it is currently unclear whether this is true—the information is being hidden from the public, after all—but The Wall Street Journal has reported that Trump was told his name appears numerous times in the government’s Epstein files.

For Trump to be on the supposed client list that MAGA supporters see as a Rosetta Stone to so many of their conspiracies would be devastating. They surely cannot handle that possibility, so they, like Jones, are forced into abject confusion by Trump’s ongoing cover-up.

Reprinted with permission from Daily Kos.

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